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Aran Beatha
|} Aran Beatha is a State of the Darnussia, and comprises the southern portion of Mainland Darnussia. It is home to the nation's former capital Doressa. The state capital is Red Stad. Aran Beatha is Darnussia's least populated region, despite containing the nation's third and fourth largest cities, primarily because Doressa is severely geographically contained by nearby flood plains, and much of Red Stad's suburbs are in Alkavon. History In antiquity, the forested region now called the States of Aran Beatha and Alkavon were settled by the Kozarians, with later in-migrations of Semites and Lusitânians. The Semetic migrants brought with them knowledge of agricultural principles, while the Kozarians taught the Semites knowledge of the ocean, on which they depended on as a food source. Kozarian Tribes There were between 30 and 400 Kozarian Tribes (depending on whose figures you use) in the area approximately covering modern Mainland Darnussia. These tribes alternately traded and warred with one another for centuries. Three of these tribes, however, had the greater historical impact than the others. The Kozer Tribe, circa 1100 BCE, built the first true "Empire" on Mainland Darnussia, controlling well over two-thirds of the Darnussian Mainland, and traded with partners as far away as modern-day Pontesi and as far north as Rutania. While the Kozer dominion only survived for two rulers (Guntharix and his grandson, Ghentherix), their legacy was the spread of literacy and of their tribe's language, which became the lingua franca of trade and ultimately drove out other tribal languages on the mainland entirely. They also gave their name to the region Kozaria. The region was eventually renamed Aran Beatha following a powerful Christian movement. The Alkron Tribe, circa 675 BCE, emerged from near Ghacrow, and engaged in brutal warfare in modern Alkavon, reaching as far as Red Stad in Kozaria at its peak, before a failed invasion of Nihaton crushed its thirst for further conquest circa 130 BCE. Alkavon's capitol is named for its most famous Chieftan, Gharen, who ruled circa 210 BCE. The Gotheim Tribe, as far back as the Kozer era, were known more for their wealth than their actual military power. A largely plutocratic society by 675 BCE, they were one of the few tribes which had no standing army. They ruled from Dorporth (now Doressa), and assembled a coalition of forces to oppose the Alkrons to the north. After the defeat of the Alkrons in Nihaton, the Gotheims went on the offensive, first seizing the Alkron-allied fortified city of Essaie that had been the Gotheim's achilles heel for centuries. Inter-Kozarian warfare largely ended circa 775 CE, when Darntus I, having unified the Greater Migrant Islands, turned his eyes to the fractious mainland. After a brutal defeat at Gracrow in 777, the remnants of the Alkron faction joined the Gotheims in a military alliance, under the High Shaman Kozar. The mainlanders, however, had far weaker technology, less manpower, and continued to suffer from a lack of unity, leading ultimately to the fall of Doressa in 780, ending the war. Duchies of Doressa and Alkavon King Darntus I divided the mainland roughly along the modern border, separating the Northern and Southern tribes. Alkavon and Doressa were chosen as the capitol cities of the two realms, as well as being the respective names, in the Narik language. Despite the relatively brutal war of conquest, Darntus I proved to be a fairly benevolent ruler, and his chosen Dukes, likewise, were (by and large) better to the native people than their own native rulers had been. Thus it was, that when news of Darntus I's passing reached the mainland, it is said the Kozarians wept even more than the Nariks. Indeed, the mainlanders began calling themselves, and their language, Darnus, in honor of the man who became a beloved King. Union and Seperation In 1375, the successors to the Duchies of both Alkavon and Doressa were the same man, Lord Kozari, who was named for the ancient tribe. For 45 years, he ruled both Duchies simultaneously from the more central location of Red Stad. The United Duchy came to be known as Kozaria. However, the King enacted a royal edict, forbidding any man from ever again holding two large fiefs this way, which compelled Kozari to divide his lands on his death. His son, also named Kozari, chose to inherit the South, and the name Kozaria replaced Doressa, while the capitol remained in Red Stad. In the north, his grandson by his daughter, Jorren, inherited Alkavon, which returned to its ancient name, although the capital had moved to Ghacrow. Late Royal Kozaria Kozaria was briefly home to the King of Darnussia during the Brief Revolution in the 18th Century, when royal family in Narikaton was overthrown. The strong Royal Navy presence in Doressa allowed the monarchy to retake the nation ultimately, as Doressa remained loyal to the crown throughout the Revolution. Meanwhile, the Industrial Revolution took root first in Red Stad, transforming the Capitol from a small center of bureaucracy to a massive behemoth of productivity. Until the spread of energy sources other than hydropower came to the nation, Kozaria was the nation's richest region, due to its industrial base. Province of Kozaria As coal and petroleum eliminated the dependence on river-power for industrial production, Kozaria gradually lost the main portion of its economic edge, although Red Stad remained an important industrial center, due to the nearby coal fields in Alkavon. As engineering skills improved, Kozaria's rivers were harnessed for agricultural cultivation, turning former forested and wilderness lands into rich farms, and making Kozaria the nation's breadbasket. The nation's dependence on Kozarian farms tended to put economic pressure on the Province to not urbanize, slowing the growth of other potential major cities in the region. Kozaria under Lusitanian and Deltarian Rule When the Lusitanians took power in the 2200s, it was Kozaria where the greatest grass-roots of resistance emerged. The rural farmers and working-class laborers of Kozaria put aside their differences, spreading resistance and rebellion against the Lusitanian-run government. While the resistance was seldom bloody, the experiences of those decades served Kozaria well, for the arrival of the Deltarians. The Deltarians, after their invasion, set their capitol not in Merenbürg, but in Red Stad, presumably believing the mainland would both be more difficult to hold, and more important to pacify. It was here, in 2323, that the major rebellion against foreign rule began, and led to the first use of nuclear weapons on Darnussian soil, forming the Nuclear Slums of Red Stad. After their attempt to put down rioters with nukes, the Deltarian authority moved south to Doressa, before they ultimately were forced to withdraw. The Doressa Age The legacy of Deltarian rule had left Doressa, in many ways, more fit to rule the nation than Merenbürg. The Deltarian occupation forces required newer facilities than the old converted royal palaces which dotted the nation, but were densest in Narikaton. Further, rule by the Lusitanians followed by the Deltarians had largely bankrupted the country, and the new Great Democratic Republic of Darnussia had been founded largely by Kozarian and Alkavonian patriots, rather than the descendants of nobility who had held sway at Merenbürg. Doressa served as capitol for two centuries, as Darnussia rebuilt from a state teetering on the abyss of failure, to a strong and prosperous state. While many of the early policies were harsh (particularly to the Hobaists, who had briefly seized power and attempted unification with Hobrazia), two centuries hosting the national capitol, and history lessons telling children that their ancestors were the ones who won Darnussian independence thrice over, left Kozaria in particular a prideful and arrogant Region, simultaneously fiercely Republican, and scornful of pre-Lusitanian history that had favored Merenbürg. This came to a head during the Second Darnussian Civil War, when the mainland failed to pacify the break-away Islands, ultimately suffering the indignity of its major cities being bombed to rubble, and having to tolerate the restoration of monarchy. Modern Aran Beatha Aran Beatha, like Alkavon, was not rebuilt with much in the way of support from the new National Government, but Aran Beatha in particular was able to rebuild a place for itself, due to its strong agricultural base in the river valleys, and industrial base at Red Stad. When the Deimore Incident ended the Empire, and plunged Nihaton and Clenon into disaster, it was the Aran Beathans, so recently humbled, who were first to provide aid. Red Stad in particular, the victim of the nation's only other destructive use of nuclear weaponry, was quick to provide support to the victims of the attacks. While Alkavon and Narikaton squabbled during the Revolutionary years leading to the "restoration" of the Darnussian Democratic Republic, it was the Kozarian spirit which provided the glue that held the nation together. Nowhere was this more prevalent than when the Aran Beatha delegation to the new national legislature voted nearly unanimously to block an Alkavanian plan to bring the capitol back to the Mainland (at Red Stad), insisting that Merenbürg, as the historical capitol, should remain the center of the nation. Geography Map of Aran Beatha Aran Beatha is a generally flat region, except for the northern-most regions that serve as the headwaters for the Red River. The Red River, and the highlands beyond Red Lake, forms the northern boundary of Aran Beatha with Alkavon. Central Aran Beatha, between the Red and Cerrot rivers, serves as the agricultural heartland of Aran Beatha (and Darnussia as a whole). This agricultural heritage putting a more powerful meaning of the region's name 'Bread of Life'. Goodewood, Hautte, and Holdana are the major agricultural cities in this region. Southern Aran Beatha is also a mainly agricultural region, but with significant mining operations in the rolling hills in the triangle formed by Frontiera, Rumbrel, and Doressa. Cities of Aran Beatha # Doressa # Red Stad # Goodewood # Holdana # Rumbrel # Hautte # Frontiera Highways of Aran Beatha * AB-1 (Rumbriel to Red Stad via Doressa) * AB-2 (Doressa to Frontiera) * AB-3 (near Grel, Alkavon to Migrant Bay west of Red Stad)